3?7 

4 

CINCINNATI’S  WATER  TERMINALS 

A Paper  read  bef  ore  the  Literary  Club,  by  Albert  Bettinger, 
January  18,  1913,  and  printed  by  order  of  the  Club 
with  the  Author's  Consent.. 

No  single  factor  has  played  so  great  a part  in  the  world’s  prog- 
ress as  that  of  transportation.  Each  improvement  in  the  meth- 
ods of  transportation  marked  a forward  step  for  mankind.  The 
sail  boat,  the  steamboat,  the  railroad,  each  introduced  an  era  in 
the  world’s  history.  In  our  own  country  our  earliest  develop- 
ment was  along  the  coast  line  and  on  the  shores  of  our  Great 
Lakes  £nd  rivers  because  these  then  offered  the  easiest  means  of 
transportation. 

To  develop  the  interior  sections,  canals  were  built  to  connect 
natural  waterways,  such  as  the  Erie  canal,  which  opened  a con- 
tinuous highway  from  tidewater  to  the  great  Northwest,  and  the 
Ohio  Canal  system  which  established  connection  between  the 
Great  Lakes  and  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  river  systems.  Canals 
were  even  projected  and  in  part  constructed  to  connect  the  head- 
waters of  the  Potomac  with  those  of  the  Allegheny,  and  the  head- 
waters of  the  James  River  with  those  of  the  Kanawha. 

Along  these  highways  were  laid  the  foundations  of  our  coun- 
try’s future  greatness.  So  completely  did  they  constitute  the  main 
avenues  of  trade  that  many  of  the  earlier  railroads  were  built  as 
feeders  to  them  or  as  connecting  links  between  them,  rather  than 
as  independent  lines  of  transportation. 

In  Ohio,  for  instance,  while  there  was  a difference  in  the  valu- 
ation of  property  in  favor  of  counties  bordering  on  the  canals  as 
against  those  lying  on  the  interior,  this  difference  grew  enormously 
after  the  opening  of  the  canals  to  traffic  between  1827  and  1833, 
and  has  been  maintained  to  the  present  day. 

But  the  railroad  proved  to  be  an  efficient  transportation  ma- 
chine, and  in  some  respects  superior  to  transportation  by  water. 
It  could  traverse  the  country  everywhere,  and  was  not  subject  to 
conditions  of  drouth  or  flood  or  ice,  and  therefore  developed  rap- 
idly and  in  corresponding  degree  the  country’s  commerce  also 
grew.  Our  greatest  railway  mileage  was  put  down  in  the  two  de- 
cades between  1870  and  1890.  Indeed,  the  70,000  miles  con- 
structed in  the  last  of  these  two  decades  may  be  set  down  as  the 
greatest  economic  achievement  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

Subsequent  improvement  as  a transportation  agency  was  ac- 
complished more  by  an  increase  of  carrying  capacity  through  im- 

d.44?03 


proved  roadbed,  enlargement  of  cars  and  of  terminal  facilities  on 
existing  track  than  by  construction  of  new  mileage. 

In  our  country,  where,  by  reason  of  its  great  extent,  commerce 
must  be  carried  on  over  long  distances,  transportation  has  become 
our  greatest  single  industry.  The  gigantic  proportions  of  this 
industry  become  impressive  when  we  understand  that  the  gross 
receipts  of  the  railroads  of  the  country  exceed  by  many  millions 
the  total  revenues  (except  from  the  sale  of  bonds)  of  our  Fed- 
eral Government,  our  State  and  Territorial  Governments  and  of 
all  our  cities,  towns  and  minor  civil  divisions.  In  other  words 
our  population  pays  several  millions  of  dollars  more  per  annum 
to  the  railroads  for  transportation  than  it  does  for  the  maintenance 
of  every  governmental  function  carried  on  in  the  United  States. 

As  the  cost  of  transportation  adds  nothing  to  the  intrinsic 
value  of  the  article  transported,  but  merely  changes  its  location, 
it  becomes  as  a tax  upon  that  article.  Thus  a barrel  of  flour  car- 
ried from  Minneapolis  to  Pittsburgh  at  a freight  rate  of  $1.00, 
increases  to  that  extent  the  cost  of  that  article  to  the  consumer, 
while  the  barrel  of  flour  is  precisely  the  same  as  it  was  before. 
Periodically  we  pay  our  tax  bills  with  a.  varying  sense  of  their 
burdensomeness,  but  it  never  occurs  to  us  that  every  moment  of 
our  existence  we  pay  a tax  vastly  greater  for  transportation. 

Most  of  us  read  and  hear  discussions  concerning  regulation 
of  freight  rates  with  the  complacent  indifference  of  one  who  is 
unaffected  thereby,  and  yet  none  is  exempt  from  the  payment  of 
freight  bills.  Directly  the  freight  bills  are  paid  by  the  shipper  or 
receiver  of  freight,  but  these  are  collected  back  from  the  ulti- 
mate consumer  in  the  increased  selling  price  of  the  commodity. 
In  this  form  the  freight  bills  come  to  us  in  the  price  of  every- 
thing we  eat  and  drink  and  wear.  All  things  we  do,  the  houses 
we  live  in,  the  pavement  we  walk  on,  the  books  we  read,  the 
things  we  use  at  work  or  play  all  have  been  enhanced  in  cost  to 
us  by  reason  of  a transportation  charge,  not  one,  but  more  often 
many  charges.  A discerning  glance  over  your  breakfast  table 
brings  home  the  fact  that  every  article  upon  it,  no  less  than  the 
table  itself  and  the  chairs  around  it,  have  been  charged  both  in 
their  component  parts  and  as  a whole  with  costs  of  transporta- 
tion. 

Nothing  that  we  use  or  consume  comes  to  us  unburdened  with 
the  cost  of  transportation  except  air  and  sunshine,  and  to  a limited 
extent,  water.  This  gives  us  some  idea  of  the  transcendent  im- 
portance to  us  all  of  the  question  of  transportation  and  of  the 
benefit  to  be  derived  from  a reduction  of  its  cost. 

2 


Creative  Effect  of  Improved  Transportation  Facilities 

But  my  plea  is  not  for  the  direct  advantage  to  the  consumer 
of  reduced  cost  of  transportation,  great  as  this  may  be,  but  for 
the  creative  effect  of  cheap  transportation.  A difference  in 
freight  rates  determines  the  location  of  industries.  It  opens  and 
closes  markets.  Transportation  facilities,  according  to  their  kind, 
make  and  unmake  cities.  And  while  it  were  desirable  that  no  sec- 
tion of  our  country  should  go  forward  at  the  expense  of  another, 
yet  the  whole  battle  of  life  is  inevitably  one  of  the  survival  of  the* 
fittest,  whether  between  individuals  or  sections  or  nations,  there- 
fore the  locality  which  provides  itself  with  the  best  transportation 
facilities,  all  other  conditions  being  equal,  will  progress  most. 
Thus,  in  1820,  Philadelphia  with  its  immediate  environment  ex- 
ceeded in  population  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  and 
was  generally  conceded  to  be  and  remain  the  principal  city  of 
the  East. 

The  opening  of  the  Erie  Canal  in  1825  gave  to  New  York  a 
direct  route  to  the  West  with  a marvelous  effect  on  her  prosperity. 
In  1840  her  population  exceeded  that  of  Philadelphia  by  100,000 
and  her  manufactured  product  rose  from  $7,000,000.00  in  1830 
to  $95,000,000.00  in  1840,  and  although  Philadelphia  recovered 
herself  somewhat  by  her  subsequent  ample  railroad  facilities,  yet 
New  York  never  Tost  the  headway  she  had  gained.  A writer  of 
Philadelphia  history  says : 

“Be  the  cause  whatever  it  may,  the  fact  stands  out 
prominently  that,  from  the  completion  of  the  Erie 
Canal,  New  York  became  what  Philadelphia  pre- 
viously had  been — the  Commercial  Emporium  of  the 
CTnited  States.” 

That  the  people  of  New  York  share  this  view  is  shown  in  the 
enlargement  of  the  same  Canal,  now  in  progress  (nearly  100  years 
later)  at  an  expenditure  of  $100,000,000.00. 

Cincinnati  furnishes  another  example.  By  1850  Cincinnati 
had  reached  a population  of  114,438,  and  was,  indeed, 

“The  Queen  of  the  West 
In  her  garlands  drest, 

On  the  banks  of  the  beautiful  river.” 

On  the  banks  of  that  river  affording  4,000  miles  of  inland  nav- 
igation, reaching  not  only  to  the  sea,  but  into  the  Northwest,  in 
the  center  of  a great  Valley  of  boundless  natural  resources,  settled 
by  a sturdy  population,  the  Mecca  of  Eastern  Migration,  she 
reigned  supreme  in  the  territory  west  of  the  Alleghenies. 

About  1870  Chicago  and  even  Cleveland  became  her  rivals, 

3 


largely  through  transportation  facilities  afforded  by  the  railroads, 
then  beginning  their  real  development.  The  West  was  naturally 
tributary  to  Chicago  and  St.  Louis,  but  the  South  belonged  to 
Cincinnati,  yet  she  allowed  these  cities  to  project  their  railroads 
into  the  South  and  wrest  from  her  much  of  the  commerce  of 
that  Section. 

Had  Cincinnati,  following  the  example  of  New  York,  held  on 
to  the  lead  which  she  had  gained  through  her  river  traffic,  by 
compassing  improvements  of  the  river  channel  and  at  the  samfe 
time  kept  pace  with  her  rivals  in  railroad  building,  in  short,  had 
she  maintained  the  advantage  which  she  had  gained  by  her  su- 
perior means  of  transportation,  there  is  little  doubt  that  she  would 
to-day  be  the  Commercial  Emporium  of  the  West  in  fact  as  well 
as  in  song.  Heroic  in  deed  was  the  effort  of  Ferguson  to  reclaim 
the  lost  opportunity  by  building  the  Southern  railroad. 

In  1872  the  seven  Ohio  Valley  States  joined  in  a memorial  to 
Congress  for  the  improvement  of  the  Ohio  River,  which,  though 
unproductive  of  decisive  action  on  the  part  of  Congress,  dis- 
closes a thorough  appreciation  of  its  impotrance  and  speaks  with 
the  eloquence  of  sincerity  and  the  wisdom  of  prophecy.  Let  me 
quote  a few  passages : 

“The  progress  of  the  past  fifty  years  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  Nation  only  foreshadows  what  will 
be  its  magnitude  in  the  next  fifty  to  come, when  all 
the  progressive  forces  of  population  and  capital  that 
have  been  in  the  past  so  steadily  gathering  power 
shall  come  fully  into  action. 

“For  what  a teeming  population,  for  what  a store- 
house of  food,  for  what  a workshop  of  mechanical 
productions  the  American  statesmen  of  to-day  are 
called  upon  to  prepare  for  in  the  future,  it  needs 
only  to  analyze  the  statistics  of  the  past  fifty  years 
and  study  the  geological  reports  of  the  States  to 
foresee. 

“To  urge  upon  you  to  make  one  of  these  prepara- 
tions for  the  Nation’s  future,  to  meet  one  of  those 
national  issues  which  is  already  rising,  to  beseech  of 
you  to  take  up  the  improvement  of  the  internal  water 
transportation  of  the  countrv  on  a scale  commensur- 
ate with  the  wants  of  the  Nation  yet  to  be,  and  in 
the  spirit  that  led  you  to  give  millions  to  build  the 
iron  pathways  across  the  continent,  is  the  object  of 
our  memorial. 

“From  the  sea  unto  the  sea  spread  the  domains 
of  these  United  States;  from  ocean  to  ocean  dwell 
its  people.  Through  its  eastern  and  western 
gates  pour  the  peoples  of  the  earth,  finding  each, 

4 


if  they  so  chose,  their  own  climate,  the  same,  or 
similar,  products  of  their  own  soil  and  familiar  oc- 
cupations. He  who  holds  the  nations  of  the  earth 
in  his  hand  seems  to  have  formed  this  land  for  the 
home  of  a people  with  whom  the  grandest  fruc- 
tication  of  Christian  civilization  should  develop. 

In  the  heart  of  this  great  domain,  this  wonderfully 
productive  territory,  this  storehouse  of  a world’s 
wealth,  spreads,  even  from  the  mountains  unto'  the 
mountains,  that  rim  in  with  their  ribs  of  iron  and 
of  silver,  of  coal  and  gold,  the  whole  heart  of  the 
Nation,  mighty  rivers,  giving  more  than  fifteen 
thousand  miles  of  national  water  highways,  await- 
ing the  skill  of  the  engineer  to  bear  a greater  com- 
merce upon  their  waters  than  the  oceans  that  bound 
our  shores. 

“To  the  development  of  a Nation  so  powerful 
as  this  now  is,  and  as  its  domains  and  its  resources 
foretell  it  will  become,  the  brain  of  the  most  sa- 
gacious rulers  could  not  have  devised  a more  com- 
plete and  convenient  system  of  artificial  internal 
water  communication  with  the  whole  interior,  than 
Nature  presents  for  man’s  perfecting  hand;  one 
better  designed  to  favor  the  interchange  of  the  pro- 
ducts of  all  sections,  or  to  carry  those  products  to 
the  markets  of  the  world.  In  its  absence  the  states- 
man might  sigh  in  vain  for  its  creation,  and  the 
people  deplore,  without  relief,  its  want.  In  the 
face  of  its  existence  when  its  great  use  now,  and 
greater  importance  in  years  to  come,  is  beyond  ar- 
gument, should  there  be  any  hesitancy  on  the  part 
of  the  rulers  of  this  Nation  to  spend  millions,  if 
required,  in  rendering  this  internal  system  of  navi- 
gation what  it  should  be  to  furnish  cheap  transpor- 
tation the  country  now  asks, and  will  hereafter  de- 
mand, when  if  thev  had  it  not  no  sum  would  seem 
disproportionate  to  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from 
its  existence? 

“Those  benefits  are  not  to  be  questioned,  and  the 
legislation  that  will  balance  the  cost  of  the  improve- 
ments now  against  the  benefits,  present  and  to  come, 
will  fail  to  rank  high  in  the  history  of  this  Nation, 
or  in  the  estimation  of  men.” 

Glorious  and  inspiring  as  this  address  undoubtedly  was,  and 
indeed  still  is,  it  failed  of  its  purpose  for  lack  of  that  popular 
support  which  is  essential  to  the  success  of  great  movements,  and 
therefore  it  became  waste  paper  in  the  pigeonhole  of  the  appropri- 
ate committee. 

The  “Nation  yet  to  be,”  the  “teeming  population,”  the  “store- 
house of  food,”  the  “workshop  of  mechanical  productions,”  the 


“demand  for  cheap  transportation/’  which  these  memorialists  so 
vividly  portrayed  and  so  accurately  foretold,  and  for  which  they 
vainly  besought  Congress  to  prepare  by  a timely,  permanent  im- 
provement of  our  inland  river  system,  are  all  present  realities 
after  the  lapse  of  less  than  half  a century. 

Railroad  expansion  and  improvement  during*  this  period  was 
indeed  great,  but  the  growth  of  our  commerce  was  greater. 

In  1906  and  7 the  railroads  staggered  under  the  weight  of 
the  traffic  that  demanded  transportation.  Our  commerce  had 
during  the  preceding  decade  increased  118  per  cent.,  while  the 
railway  mileage  over  which  it  was  to  be  carried  had  increased 
but  21  per  cent.  It  was  then  estimated  by  James  J.  Hill,  one  of 
the  great  railroad  authorities  of  the  present  day,  that  merely  to 
accommodate  existing  traffic  there  would  be  required  75,000  miles 
of  new  track,  costing  with  terminals,  $5,500,000,000,  or  an  out- 
lay of  $1,100,000,000  per  year  if  the  work  were  spread  over  five 
years.  His  conclusion  was  that 

“In  the  long  run,  transportation  adopts  the  line  of 
least  resistance  to  gravity.  The  rivers  mark  the  di- 
rection. Just  as  the  entire  drainage  of  the  Central 
West  is  gatheied  into  the  Mississippi,  and  passes 
by  it  to  the  Gulf,  so  that  portion  of  its  commerce 
which  consists  of  articles  of  large  bulk  and  weight 
will  move  naturally  in  this  direction  when  the  choked 
outlet  becomes  an  open  passage.  The  burden  which 
the  railroads  alone  cannot  carry  will  be  shared  by 
the  waterways.” 

About  the  same  time  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  is- 
sued a statement  of  like  tenor  couched  in  the  most  serious  and 
portentous  language. 

Elihu  Root,  then  Secretary  of  State,  in  a public  address  de- 
scribed the  same  situation  in  these  words : 

“We  have  come  to  a point  where  the  railroads  of 
the  country  are  unable  to  perform  that  function 
which  is  necessary  to  continued  progress  in  the  in- 
crease of  our  national  wealth.  Conditions  are  such 
that  there  is  no  human  possibility  that  railroads  can 
keep  pace  with  the  necessities  of  our  natural  pro- 
duction for  the  transportation  of  our  products,  and 
the  one  avenue  that  is  open  for  us  to  keep  up  our 
progress  is  the  avenue  of  water  transportation.” 

The  National  Rivers  and  Harbors  Congress,  an  association 
whose  membership  extends  to  every  State  of  the  Union,  was 
formed  for  the  purpose  of  impressing  the  same  proposition  upon 
the  public  mind  and  in  that  way  upon  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States. 


6 


The  Ohio  Valley  Improvement  Association,  formed  in  this 
City  in  1895,  whose  membership  is  made  up  of  citizens  from  cities 
and  towns  on  the  Ohio  river  labors  in  the  same  field,  but  limits 
its  efforts  to  the  improvement  of  the  Ohio  River  and  its  tribu- 
taries. 

So  after  the  lapse  of  forty  years  since  the  Ohio  Valley  Mem- 
orialists published  their  prayers  and  prophecies,  Congress  has 
taken  up  seriously  the  question  of  improving  our  inland  water- 
ways ; the  Ohio  River  by  the  construction  of  fifty-four  movable 
dams  which  will  insure  a permanent  minimum  depth  of  nine  feet, 
at  an  estimated  cost  of  $63,000,000.  About  30  per  cent,  of  the 
work  is  now  completed,  and  the  work  is  being  pushed  as  rapidly 
by  the  United  States  Engineers  as  the  annual  appropriations  of 
Congress  will  allow,  and  which  are  promised  to  be  made  in  such 
amount  as  will  admit  of  completion  in  1923. 

A permanent  channel  of  nine  feet  in  the  Ohio  River  may 
therefore  be  said  to  be  now  fairly  in  sight.  Besides  the  Alle- 
gheny and  the  Monongohela,  it  receives  six  tributaries  from  the 
South  and  one  from  the  North,  all  improved  for  a greater  or  less 
distance  to  a depth  of  six  feet.  The  Mississippi  from  Cairo  to 
New  Orleans  is  safe  even  now  for  a minimum  depth  of  eight 
feet,  and  from  Cairo  to  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri  River  is  benig 
improved  to  a like  depth,  and  from  thence  to  St.  Paul  improvement 
to  a depth  of  six  feet  is  in  progress. 

The  Missouri  River  to  Kansas  City  is  also  under  improvement. 
Thus  a splendid  dependable  inland  river  system  of  nearly  10,000 
miles  will  be  available. 

The  question  is  frequently  and  properly  asked : Will  these 
waterway  improvements  restore  to  the  rivers  the  traffic  once  car- 
ried by  them,  in  the  face  of  railroad  competition? 

The  answer  to  this  question  requires  consideration  of  the 
causes  of  the  decline  of  river  traffic. 

One  of  the  most  effective  methods  employed  by  the  railroads 
for  the  suppression  of  water  traffic  was  the  reduction  of  rates  be- 
tween competitive  points  below  the  actual  cost  of  transportation, 
and  when  the  competitor  was  driven  out,  to  restore  the  living 
tariff,  recouping  itself  in  the  meantime  by  charging  a higher  rate 
on  the  traffic  not  affected  by  the  water  route.  But  a corrective 
for  this  evil  has  been  provided  by  an  amendment  of  Section  4 of 
the  Interstate  Commerce  Law  passed  June  25,  1910,  providing  that 
when  a railroad  reduces  its  rate  in  competition  with  a water  route, 
the  same  shall  not  again  be  raised  unless  after  a hearing  by  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  it  is  shown  that  the  proposed 

7 


increase  rests  upon  changed  conditions  other  than  the  elimination 
of  water  transportation. 

Another  serious  impediment  to  the  maintenance  and  develop- 
ment of  river  traffic  was  the  refusal  of  the  railroads  to  pro- 
rate with  water  lines  on  through  freight,  or  to  issue  or  honor 
through  bills  of  lading  for  part  water  and  part  rail  shipments. 
For  instance,  coal  brought  to  Cincinnati  by  water  from  West 
Virginia  or  Pennsylvania  cannot  be  reshipped  here  by  rail  ex- 
cept at  local  rates,  which  consume  the  advantage  gained  by  the 
cheap  water  transportation,  while  coal  shipped  here  by  rail  will 
be  forwarded  by  another  road  upon  a proportionate  division  be- 
tween the  two  roads  of  a through  rate. 

This  latter  objection  has  been  met  by  Section  2 of  the  Pana- 
ma Canal  Act  passed  August  24,  1912,  amending  Section  6 of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Act,  which  authorizes  the  commission  “to 
establish  through  routes  and  maximum  joint  rates  between  and 
over  rail  and  water  lines  and  to  determine  all  the  terms  and  con- 
ditions under  which  such  lines  shall  be  operated  in  the  handling 
of  the  traffic  embraced.”  Also,  “to  establish  physical  connection 
between  the  lines  of  the  rail  carrier  and  the  dock  of  the  water 
carrier,  by  directing  the  railcarrier  to  make  suitable  connection 
between  its  line  and  a track  or  tracks  which  have  been  con- 
structed from  the  dock  to  the  limits  of  its  right-of-way,  or  by 
directing  either  or  both  the  rail  or  water  carrier  individually  or 
in  connection  with  one  another,  to  construct  and  connect  with 
the  lines  of  the  rail  carrier,  a spur  track  or  tracks  to  the  dock. 
* * * The  provisions  of  the  Act  extend  to  cases  where  the  dock 
is  owned  by  other  parties  than  the  carrier  involved.” 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  Act  when  brought  fully  into 
exercise,  will  remove  one  of  the  most  serious  obstacles  to  a re- 
vival of  the  river  traffic. 

There  remains  one  other  condition  to  be  established  for  the 
full  development  of  river  transportation,  and  that  done,  there  is 
no  reason  to  doubt  that  commerce  on  the  Ohio  will  be  vastly 
greater  than  ever  in  its  history,  stimulating  the  commercial  and 
industrial  life  of  the  whole  Ohio  Valley  to  an  extent  now  scarcely 
dreamed  of,  and  that  is  the  matter  of  . 

Terminals 

About  ten  years  ago  the  railroads  entered  upon  a general  im- 
provement and  extension  of  their  terminals  as  one  means  of 
preparing  them  better  to  meet  the  ever-growing  demand  for  trans- 
portation. During  that  time  many  millions  of  dollars  have  been 

8 


expended  in  all  parts  of  the  country  at  great  freight  centers.  A 
marvelous  work  of  this  character  by  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
is  approaching  completion  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn.  The  New 
York  Central  system  has  similar  improvements  in  progress  at  a 
cost  of  over  a hundred  millions  of  dollars  and  yet  Mr.  Brown,  its 
president,  recently  declared  “that  these  no  more  than  symbolize 
what  his  system  must  do,  and  within  a short  time,  if  it  is  ade- 
quately to  handle  the  volume  of  traffic  which  our  increasing  agri- 
cultural and  industrial  productions  will  demand. ” 

Every  railroad  entering  Cincinnati  has,  within  the  past  few 
years,  added  vast  acres  to  its  terminal  trackage  and  has  in  the 
same  ratio  extended  its  facilities  for  handling  freight  originating 
or  terminating  here. 

What  has  been  found  so  indispensable  to  the  railroads  is  no 
less  essential  to  water  transport.  A navigable  channel  is  not  a 
transportation  line  without  adequate  terminals,  and,  to  render  the 
waterway  a real  integral  part  of  the  transportation  system  of  the 
country,  there  must  above  all  things  be  harmonious  co-operation 
between  water  lines  and  rail  lines  at  all  points  of  contact.  There 
must  be  physical  connection  between  them  equipped  with  suitable 
machinery  for  the  easy  and  cheap  transfer  of  freight  from  one  to 
the  other. 

Unless  facilities  of  this  character  are  provided  Cincinnati  can 
hope  to  derive  only  small  advantage  from  the  completion  of  the 
Ohio  River  improvement. 

The  National  Waterways  Commission,  in  its  preliminary  re- 
port of  1910,  and  again  in  its  final  report  published  in  March, 
1912,  stated: 

“It  is  absolutely  essential  for  the  growth  of  water 
transportation  that  every  port,  whether  located  on 
the  seacoast  or  on  some  inland  waterway,  should 
have  adequate  public  terminals,  at  which  all  boat 
lines  can  find  accommodation  at  reasonable  rates. 
Inasmuch  as  the  indifference  of  communities  to 
their  responsibility  in  this  matter  largely  nullifies 
the  benefits  of  expenditures  by  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment for  channel  improvements,  the  Commission 
emphasizes  the  recommendation  made  in  its  prelim- 
inary report  that  further  improvements  in  rivers 
and  harbors  be  not  made  unless  sufficient  assurance 
is  given  that  proper  wharves,  terminals  and  other 
necessary  adjuncts  to  navigation  shall  be  furnished 
by  municipal  or  private  enterprise,  and  that  the 
charges  for  their  use  shall  be  reasonable.” 

Mr.  Herbert  Knox  Smith,  Commissioner  of  Corporations,  in 

9 


a recent  exhaustive  report  on  water  terminals,  states,  as  one 
salient  fact  existing  in  the  harbor  tonditions  of  the  country, 

“that  there  is  a striking  lack  of  co-operation  with  the 
Federal  Government  on  the  part  of  localities  bene- 
fited by  channel  improvement.  This  is  in  marked 
contrast  to  those  continental  countries  whose  water- 
ways have  been  most  highly  developed.” 

These,  and  similar  utterances  by  high  official  authority,  have 
produced  in  Congress  a well-settled  conviction  that  if  the  Na- 
tional Government  provides  the  channels,  States  or  municipalities 
should  provide  the  terminals. 

When  the  provisions  for  the  Ohio  River,  contained  in  the 
Rivers  and  Harbors  bill  of  1910,  were  under  discussion,  several 
members  were  insistant  upon  the  insertion  of  a condition  that  the 
municipalities  along  the  Ohio  River  should  give  assurance  in  some 
form  that  suitable  terminals  will  be  provided,  and  only  on  the 
statement  of  the  Chairman  of  that  Committee  of  his  belief  that 
such  provision  would  be  made  in  due  season  were  the  objecting 
members  satisfied.  In  some  instances,  appropriations  for  river 
improvement  were  conditioned  on  the  municipalities  specially  in- 
terested furnishing  public  wharves,  and  the  condition  having 
failed  the  appropriations  never  took  effect. 

In  the  River  and  Harbor  enactment  of  1912,  the  Chief  of 
Engineers  was  directed  to  make  report  to  Congress  of  what  is 
being  done  by  municipalities  along  rivers,  now  under  Federal  im- 
provement, toward  providing  public  wharves,  docks  and  other 
terminal  facilities.  It  will  be  seen  therefore  that  the  subject 
of  water  terminals  for  Cincinnati  imperatively  demands  our 
attention. 

Cincinnati’s  Terminals 

What  is  our  present  situation  in  this  respect,  and  what  can  be 
done  to  meet  this  demand?  Cincinnati  has  a river  frontage  of 
over  twenty  miles.  There  are  perhaps  fifteen  or  twenty  private 
terminals  for  the  elevation  of  coal,  sand,  brick,  stone,  forest  pro- 
ducts, etc.,  but  we  have  only  1,000  feet  of  public  landing  and 
these  are  situated  between  Broadway  and  Main  Streets.  This 
tract  was  dedicated  to  public  use  as  a common  in  1789  and  has- 
ever  since  been  used  as  a public  landing. 

Several  years  ago  the  City  Council  granted  to  a railroad  com- 
pany a right-of-way  diagonally  across  the  landing  for  an  elevated 
railroad  structure  which  was  designed  to  effect  a connection  with 
certain  terminal  property  lying  west  of  the  landing.  The  Su- 
preme Court,  however,  held  that  this  gift  was  invalid  for  want  of 

10 


right  in  the  city  to  give  away  that  which  it  held  in  trust  for  the 
public.  The  railroad  company  then  procured  the  passage  of  an 
act  by  the  Legislature  authorizing  railroad  companies  to  condemn 
such  rights-of-way  across  public  landings  when  they  deem  it 
necessary,  and  after  having  effected  an  agreement  with  the  City 
Council  as  to  the  manner,  terms  and  conditions  of  such  elevated 
structure.  The  City  Council,  still  impelled  by  the  same  generous 
impulse  which  prompted  its  former  gift,  entered  into  such  an 
agreement  with  the  railroad  and  the  latter  at  once  instituted  pro- 
ceedings in  the  courts  for  such  condemnation.  It  is  contended  by 
the  city’s  counsel  that  the  proposed  structure  would  seriously  in- 
terfere with,  if  not  prevent  the  use  of  the  landing  when  the  Ohio 
River  improvement  shall  be  completed,  and  that  the  railroad  can 
accomplish  its  legitimate  purpose  of  connection  with  its  terminal 
by  several  admittedly  practical  routes  without  crossing  the  public 
landing,  and  for  that  reason  its  occupancy  by  the  railroad  is  not 
in  fact  necessary.  This,  and  questions  involving  the  validity  of  the 
legislative  act,  as  well  as  the  action  of  Council,  are  pending  in  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  I will  not  now  discuss  the  merits  of  this  con- 
troversy further  than  to  say  that  if  the  railroad  company  shall 
finally  prevail,  and  shall  occupy  the  landing  as  proposed,  the 
commercial  interests  of  Cincinnati  will  suffer  an  irreparable  loss, 
for  there  is  no*  other  portion  of  our  river  front  to  which  access  is 
not  already  barred  by  railroad  occupation,  nor  is  there  any  part 
of  the  river  front  located  so  conveniently  to  the  commerical  dis- 
tricts of  Cincinnati.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  contention  made 
in  the  interest  of  the  general  public  is  sustained,  then  both  the 
railroad  and  the  river  terminals  will  be  saved  to  the  commercial 
interests  of  our  city. 

Let  us  assume,  however,  that  the  final  outcome  of  the  contro- 
versy will  be  favorable  to  the  public  interest.  Then  the  public 
landing  can  be  made  to  serve  the  purposes  of  a modern  water 
terminal  for  the  handling  of  local  package  or  merchandise  freight, 
and  perhaps  to  some  extent  of  a reshipping  place  if  a belt  railroad 
can  be  brought  in  connection  with  it. 

Docks  and  elevating  machinery  will  be  installed  to  carry 
freight  from  boat  to  warehouses,  or  receiving  stations  at  the  top 
of  the  landing,  and  vice  versa , where  the  local  deliveries  will  re- 
ceive and  deliver  their  freight.  Tedious  trucking  by  horse  power 
up  and  down  the  steep  hillside,  which  costs  as  much  per  ton  as  it 
does  to  bring  it  all  the  way  from  Maysville,  a distance  of  sixty 
miles,  will  be  a thing  of  the  past. 

But  at  what  point  shall  we  be  able  to  establish  physical  con- 


II 


nection  between  the  river  and  all  the  railroads  entering  the  city, 
so  as  to  facilitate  shipment  of  our  local  products,  such  as  ma- 
chinery, boilers,  engines,  structural  iron,  automobiles,  buggies  and 
wagons,  soap,  millwork,  furniture,-  pianos,  paper  and  numerous 
other  local  products? 

How  can  we  attract  through  shipments  for  the  South  and  West 
and  through  the  Panama  Canal  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  from  that 
great  industrial  and  agricultural  section  lying  between  the  lines 
drawn  from  Cincinnati  to  Chicago  and  from  Cincinnati  to  Buf- 
falo ? 

Where  can  we  create  a manufacturing  district  which  shall 
have  the  river  and  rail  at  their  very  doors?  In  short,  where  can 
we  build  a large,  commodious  inland  harbor  from  which  the  large 
railroad  systems  shall  radiate,  so  that  we  may  take  full  advantage 
of  our  new  position?  Let  me  show  you  where: 

Between  the  Cincinnati,  Hamilton  & Dayton  and  the  Balti- 
more & Ohio  Southwestern  Railroads,  running  from  West  Sixth 
Street  to  Cummins ville,  lies  a basin  thirty  feet  below  the  general 
surface,  almost  ready  for  the  influx  of  water  to  be  converted  into 
a lake.  At  my  request  Mr.  M.  D.  Burke,  an  engineer  of  great 
ability  and  distinction,  has  made  an  examination  of  this  territory 
and  prepared  a tentative  plan,  which  is  too  long  for  incorporation 
in  this  paper  in  detail,  but  of  which  the  following  is  a brief 
outline : 

He  would  throw  a dam  across  the  basin  about  400  feet  north 
from  Gest  Street  from  the  B.  & O.  S.  W.  Railroad  on  the  east  to 
the  C.  H.  & D.  Railroad  on  the  west.  This  dam  is  to  have  a spill- 
way about  400  feet  in  width  to  hold  the  water  in  the  pool  above 
it  at  a minimum  level  of  about  sixty  feet  above  low  water  in  the 
Ohio  River.  The  present  flood  stage  marks  almost  exactly  the 
proposed  level  of  the  basin.  In  the  dam  above  Gest  Street  there 
is  to  be  a hoist  or  lock,  termed  a “water  balance,”  an  ingenous 
contrivance  which  at  a single  operation  will  transfer  two  boats, 
one  up  and  one  down.  One  of  its  chief  features  is  that  it  wastes 
little  or  no  water  in  its  lockage,  a matter  of  considerable  im- 
portance when  the  locks  are  continually  in  motion.  The  embank- 
ment of  the  B.  & O.  S.  W.  Railroad  is  to  be  riveted,  so  as  to  hold 
water.  Southwardly,  from  the  dam  to  the  Ohio  River,  a channel 
250  feet  wide  and  with  its  bottom  ten  feet  below  low  water  in  the 
river,  is  to  be  excavated  and  to  be  confined  between  walls  at  least 
sixty-two  feet  above  low  water,  and  the  spaces  in  the  bottom  land 
upon  either  side  of  the  channel  would  afford  desirable  sites  for 
wharves,  quays  and  warehouses. 


12 


In  the  northern  part  of  the  basin,  at  Cumminsville,  extensive 
areas  are  submerged  at  a stage  of  sixty  feet  in  the  Ohio,  to  a 
depth  of  four  feet  or  more,  which  can  be  converted  into  valuable 
factory  sites,  having  rail  and  water  fronts,  by  filling  with  the 
material  from  excavations  that  will  be  required  to  widen  the 
banks  of  Millcreek  in  this  vicinity. 

The  upper  end  of  the  basin  would  be  about  forty-eight  feet 
below  the  present  level  of  the  Miami  & Erie  Canal,  from  which 
the  water  could  be  taken  and  the  difference  in  elevation  be  over- 
come by  a flight  of  three  or  four  locks  of  dimensions  suitable  to 
the  present  canal.  By  small  improvement  of  Millcreek  the  ship- 
ping facilities  can  be  extended  to  that  industrial  section  round- 
about Proctor  & Gamble’s. 

At  South  Cumminsville,  where  the  West  Fork  joins  Millcreek, 
there  is  room  for  more  extensive  developments.  The  valley  is 
wider,  the  stream  is  larger,  and  the  basin  is  wider.  The  water 
from  the  basin  will  extend  up  the  West  Fork  for  a long  distance, 
and,  if  the  property  interests  are  such  as  to  justify  the  expense, 
a swing  bridge,  crossing  the  C.  H.  & D.  Railroad  tracks  and 
wharves,  may  be  constructed  west  of  those  tracks  which  will  ac- 
commodate manufactories  of  great  magnitude. 

The  boats  to  be  admitted  to  this  harbor  will  be  barges  towed 
from  place  to  place  by  deep  draft  propeller  boats.  In  these  barges 
the  freight  is  to  be  carried  to  its  destination  by  towboats  of  river 
freight  lines,  or  may  be  transferred  to  other  barges  or  even  to 
river  packets.  Railroad  tracks  will  be  extended  out  into  this 
basin  from  the  main  tracks  upon  docks,  equipped  with  electric 
hoisting  machinery,  and  it  is  asserted  that  the  necessary  current 
can  be  generated  by  the  water  power  to  be  gained  at  the  upper 
canal  and  lower  locks.  At  or  near  the  upper  end  of  the  basin  ex- 
tensive coal  terminals  can  be  installed  to  which  coal  barges  may 
be  brought  from  the  river  and  reloaded  into  cars  for  reship- 
ment by  rail,  thereby  Cincinnati  would  become  the  great  coal  dis- 
tributing point  in  the  country.  Here  facilities  would  also  be 
afforded  to  supply  the  local  market,  thus  saving  a long  haul  from 
the  present  river  terminals.  Many  local  industries  too  would  be 
supplied  with  coal  directly  from  barges.  Precisely  this  character 
of  service  has  for  years  been  rendered  to  the  cities  of  Covington 
and  Newport,  by  utilizing  the  narrow  and  tortuous  Licking  River. 

The  land  to  be  acquired  for  this  harbor,  with  but  slight  ex- 
ception, is  of  less  value  than  any  land  round  about  Cincinnati, 
and  most  of  it  is  unfit  for  any  use  without  the  expenditure  of 
enormous  sums  for  filling.  There  are  no  valuable  improvements 

13 


throughout  the  whole  extent  of  this  basin,  so  that  the  cost  of  ac- 
quisition would  be  comparatively  small. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  difficulty  in  the  whole  undertaking  will 
be  found  in  making  a passageway  under  the  railroads  to  the  river 
at  the  lower  end  of  the  harbor.  Quoting  from  Mr.  Burke’s  re- 
port : 

“ Owing  to  the  great  vibration  in  the  height  of  water  in  the 
Ohio  River,  and  the  absolute  necessity  for  keeping  a passage  clear 
in  each  direction,  it  is  probable  that  swing  bridges,  instead  of  the 
modern  bascule  form  of  bridge  would  be  used.  The  swing  bridge 
requires  a center  pier,  and  these  piers  would  divide  the  traffic  into 
two  channels,  neither  of  which  should  be  less  than  100  feet  in 
width,  this  requirement  fixing  the  width  of  the  excavation  and 
walled  channel  at  not  less  than  250  feet.  At  low  water,  or  any 
stage  of  twenty  feet  or  less  in  the  river,  barges  could  be  taken  by 
tugs,  or  two  boats  through  this  channel  without  opening  any  of 
these  bridges,  as  the  bottom  chords  of  all  of  them  could  be  placed 
at  such  an  elevation  as  would  leave  the  space  below  the  level  of 
fifty-five  feet  above  low  water  unobstructed.” 

Mr.  Burke  has  no  hesitancy  in  saying  that  an  ample  supply  of 
water  will  at  all  times  be  available  to  keep  the  basin  filled  with 
sufficient  overflow  to  prevent  stagnation. 

Attention  has,  of  course,  been  given  to  the  question  of  sewage, 
and  he  finds  that  a sewage  disposal  plant,  producing  a non-putres- 
cible  and  inoffensive  effluent,  would  have  to  be  placed  in  Lick  Run 
valley  west  of  where  it  is  crossed  by  Harrison  Avenue.  He  sug- 
gests an  intercepting  sewer  that  will  conduct  the  effluents  from  a 
number  of  sewers  emptying  into  Millcreek  to  a sewage  disposal 
plant  at  West  Fork  The  sewage  coming  from  the  vast  territory 
east  of  Millcreek  lie  leaves  for  disposal  by  the  plans  now  being 
studied  by  the  city  authorities,  none  of  which  contemplate,  of 
course,  the  retention  of  the  present  open  sewer  in  Millcreek. 

The  Eighth  Street,  Liberty  Street  and  Harrison  Avenue  via- 
ducts now  cross  this  basin,  and  another,  the  Hopple  Street  via- 
duct, is  under  construction,  and  still  another,  the  Queen  City 
Avenue  viaduct,  is  proposed.  Possibly  another  may  be  required 
at  Gest  Street. 

These  will  be  sufficient  for  some  time  to  come.  As  those 
viaducts  were  built  to  eliminate  grade  crossings,  there  is  no  pro- 
priety in  longer  maintaining  the  streets  under  them,  as  is  how  the 
case  with  Eighth  Street  and  Harrison  Avenue. 

No  estimate  of  the  cost  of  the  undertaking  has  yet  been  made, 
but  it  is  not  believed  to  be  excessive,  or  in  any  sense  prohibitive 

14 


when  compared  with  the  magnitude  of  the  project  and  the  vast 
benefit  to  be  derived  therefrom.  The  city  should  build  this  ter- 
minal  from  the  proceeds  of  bonds  to  be  issued  therefor,  the  in- 
terest and  amortization  of  the  same  to  be  paid  out  of  the  earnings 
of  the  enterprise,  and  when  the  bonds  shall  have  been  redeemed, 
then  the  terminal  charges  should  be  such  only  as  will  be  required 
for  maintenance  and  necessary  improvement ; and  to  be,  of  course, 
from  the  beginning,  open  to  all  railroads  and  water  lines  on  equal 
terms. 

It  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  the  railroads  entering  Cincinnati 
will  eagerly  seek  a terminal  of  such  utility  and  convenience  con- 
ducted on  such  terms  of  equality. 

The  city  is  obligated  under  the  Canal  Abandonment  Act  to 
form  at  its  own  cost  a suitable  connection  between  the  present 
canal  at  Mitchell  Avenue  and  the  Ohio  River,  whenever  that 
canal  is  improved  to  a depth  of  nine  feet.  Such  improvement 
may  be  delayed  temporarily  but  not  permanently.  If  the  State  of 
Ohio  will  not  build  the  canal  the  fifteen  counties  through  which  it 
passes  can  well  afford  to  build  it  on  their  own  account,  and  doubt- 
less will  when  the  question  is  brought  before  them  in  its  real 
significance.  Notice  their  importance  when  compared  with  the 
remaining  seventy-three  counties,  as  shown  by  the  Census  of 
1900: 

These  fifteen  counties  constitute  of  the  eighty-eight  counties 
in  the  State,  17  per  cent. 

The  value  of  real  estate  and  improvements  in  these  counties 
is  34  per  cent. 

Of  capital  invested  in  manufacturing  they  employ  31  per  cent. 

Of  manufactured  products  they  produce  37  per  cent. 

Of  employes  they  engage  37  per  cent. 

Of  wages  they  pay  35  per  cent. 

In  manufacturing  Cincinnati  stands  first,  Dayton  third  and 
Toledo  fourth.  In  population  Cincinnati  stands  second,  Toledo 
third  and  Dayton  fourth.  The  canal  passes  through  all  these 
•cities. 

This  industrial  life  was  created  by  the  Miami  and  Erie  Canal. 

Its  enlargement,  to  a depth  of  ten  feet,  has  been  declared  to  be 
practicable  and  at  reasonable  cost  by  Government  and  other  emi- 
nent engineers.  The  upper  fifty  miles  is  to  form  a part  of  the 
proposed  Toledo,  Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago  canal,  connecting 
Lake  Erie  with  Lake  Michigan,  and  as  to  which  Government 
•engineers  are  at  this  very  moment  formulating  their  report.  Why 
should  the  city  not  embrace  the  present  opportunity  to  make  such 

15 


3 0112  072423947 


> 


connection  in  conjunction  with  the  establishment  of  a modern  rail 
and  water  terminal,  which  will  ppen  for  it  a new  era  of  prosper- 
ous development?  New  York  has  voted  a bond  issue  of  $20,- 
000,000.00  for  terminals  to  meet  the  requirements  of  its  enlarged 
Erie  Canal. 


The  city  of  New  Orleans  has  by  its  recently  constructed  ter- 
minals, its  belt  railroad  and  docks  and  splendid  administration, 
turned  the  tide  of  prosperity  in  her  favor. 

At  Houston,  Texas,  public  rail  and  water  terminals  are  now 
being  extended,  and  a 25-foot  channel  to  the  harbor  of  Galveston, 
a distance  of  fifty  miles,  is  under  construction,  one-half  the  cost 
of  which,  two  and  a half  millions,  is  being  paid  by  a taxing  dis- 
trict composed  of  Houston  and  the  immediate  environment. 
Seventeen  railroads  are  seeking  this  inland  harbor  and  are  on 
their  own  account  constructing  extensive  private  terminals.  Jack- 
sonville, Florida,  has  just  voted  a large  bond  issue  for  the  con- 
struction of  large  municipal  docks. 

Manchester  brought  herself  back  into  a state  of  prosperity, 
after  a long  period  of  decay,  by  the  establishment  of  extensive 
rail  and  water  terminals  and  their  connection  with  the  sea  through 
a ship  canal  only  twenty-three  miles  in  length.  Frankfort,  a truly 
inland  city,  lying  on  the  diminutive  Main,  expended  in  1886 
$2,000,000  to  equip  a harbor  not  only  for  the  co-ordination  of  rail 
and  water  transport,  but  for  the  creation  of  industries  on  its 
shores,  and  so  productive  of  good  results  was  this  undertaking 
that  she  has  just  completed  a vast  extension  of  her  harbor  at  a 
cost  of  $17,000,000  for  the  accommodation  of  her  rapidly  grow- 
ing commerce.  She  followed  the  plan  of  acquiring  vast  tracts  of 
land,  and,  after  the  creation  of  her  harbor  and  terminals,  selling 
much  of  the  land  for  industrial  enterprises  and  applying  the  pro- 
ceeds of  these  sales  toward  the  cost  of  the  improvement. 

Could  a more  complete  concurrence  of  favorable  conditions 
for  such  an  enterprise  be  anywhere  found  than  we  have  at  hand 
here  in  Cincinnati?  By  a single  stroke  we  would  convert  an  un- 
sightly disease-breeding  and  hitherto  useless  waste  into  a practical 
and  profitable  union  between  our  great  rail  and  waterway  sys- 
tems ; we  would  create  a great  industrial  district,  giving  employ- 
ment to  thousands  of  men  and  adding  millions  to  adjacent  land 
values;  and  would,  for  a second  time  in  our  history,  reap  untold 
advantage  from  our  greatest  natural  resource — the  Ohio  River. 


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